Safe Spaces- August

     While reading this article the thing that really stood out to me were those teachers with good intentions who simply didn't speak up when they heard something negative or made assumptions about their students. These teachers are not necessarily homophobic or transphobic, they just feel as though it isn't their place to teach someone else's kid about these issues.

     The reason that this stood out to me was because I feel like this is where most educators would fall on this spectrum of how they feel about and engage with the lgbtq+ community. They feel like they have to walk on eggshells or not even engage with it at all.

    

      But here are my thoughts on this approach:

• As yourself what is it that even makes it a question whether or not to integrate lgbtq+ representation or history in the classroom?
• Do you teach your students about the civil rights movement?
• Do you teach your students about the various waves of the feminist movement?
• When you read stories or show other forms of media to your students have they ever included;
• Any sort of romantic relationship (whether its implicit or explicit)
• A single parent household?
• A mixed-race family?
• An adopted child?
• A blended family (ex: step parents)
• Or how about a child raised by a grandparent or some other non-biological parent?
• If you answered yes to any of these questions I'm curious to know what makes teaching about those oppressed groups or portraying these different family structures different from teaching about the lgbtq+ communities struggle for equality or portraying a family or a person who is lgbtq+? I mean think about it a lot of these topics were at one point taboo and we know now (or most of us now know) that, that was wrong. So what it is that makes the lgbtq+ community different from all these?
• Maybe it's the fact that perhaps you think that you're students are too young to be introduced to the concept of attraction or relationships or gender
• Well that's weird because in our society we can look at a literal baby boy who just so happens to smile in the direction of a girl one time and say that he's a "flirt."
• We also gender genuinely everything that people do...
• Okay well maybe it's different because it should be left up to the parents
• Why? Because it's risque? Now we're getting somewhere

The reason why educators are so cautious and afraid of mentioning the lgbtq+ community is because we know that it is still so unaccepted. No matter how much we like to tell ourselves that "It's 2018 no one cares anymore" we do care.

     

So as an educator what are you going to do about it? Are you going to sit back and let this cycle of misunderstanding and hatred continue or are you going to be the leader that you signed up to be and help create a better world? The choice is yours.